I can't think of a better way to start off the new year than in God's house! Pastor Butler's morning sermon was on "Having a Faith Lift" and how our faith determines what God can do in our Christian lives. He said that faith is to a Christian what fuel is to a fire. Faith can solve impossible problems, Matthew 17:20. Faith is the key to answered prayer. Faith is the secret to achievement, Mark 9:23, and it is the basis for all miracles. God never changes and our salvation alone is a miracle in it of itself! He also warned that whatever is not of faith is sin, Hebrews 11:16. God uses faith to stretch our imagination, Ephesians 3:20, and faith sometimes takes initiative, Luke 8:43-48. Our decisions for the new year should not be based on the circumstances in our life - they should be based on the Word of God!

Sunday night we studied from Colossians 2:8-10, how everything is found in the person of Christ. He taught how the prodigal son made the worst decision of his life in the best place that he could have been and how he made the best decision of his life in the worst place he could have been in. He found everything that he was looking for in the far country back at his father's house! What a perfect picture of how sometimes we live frustrated Christian lives when we have Christ right here with us to help and to guide us in everything that we do.

I've never been more excited about serving the Lord than this year in 2012! Thank you Lord for all Your many blessing of family and friends and for Your promises to us in Your Word!

God is always good.

 Before Christmas Eve....

and after! :)

God's really been working in my heart these past few days is that He is always good. It's always a bummer when I feel like having a pity party and then God reminds me that He is always good and that I've been blessed way beyond what I even deserve, Psalm 68:19. How could I ever not be joyful when I think stop and think about all that God has done for me! Christmas Eve was so much fun because our family tradition is that we always only open only one present and then we wait to open the rest on Christmas day but we kind of got a little carried away and we ended up opening all of our presents on Christmas Eve. Something funny that happened was that Kaylin asked for scarfs for Christmas and she ended up getting five of them, and I didn't even ask for any and I got four! A total of nine scarves, not to mention that mom got one too! Between all the scarves that we already own and all the ones that we got, we could open a a scarf store and sell them now if we wanted to!

Christmas day was very special. We had one church service and Pastor Butler preached a message on the miracle of the virgin birth and then his family sang a song that reminded us of desiring the Lord's presence on Christmas day. I felt so blessed to see all of my wonderful church family on Christmas day and then the best part was when we came home and ate a delicious Christmas dinner prepared by mother herself. Jeremy Gonzalez, Isai's brother who is stationed at Camp Le June, and Brian Spivey came over and we all watched a Christmas movie together (of course my dad didn't last for the whole movie, he never does) and then we played board games. I wish I could say that we took lots of picture to remember this Christmas day but, alas, we did not. Most of my family is pretty camera shy.

I think one of my favorite parts of Christmas is hearing the song's that remind us of Christ's birth. I love the song "Mary Did You Know" and this one that that the ensemble sang in our Christmas service called "Here With Us" which talks about the God of the universe leaving His throne to come down and be with us. What a powerful reminder.

It's still a mystery to me 
That the hands of God could be so small, 
How tiny fingers reaching in the night 
Were the very hands that measured the sky 

Hallelujah, hallelujah 
Heaven's love reaching down to save the world 
Hallelujah, hallelujah 
Son of God, Servant King, 
You're here with us 
You're here with us 

It's still a mystery to me, oh, 
How His infant eyes have seen the dawn of time 
How His ears have heard an angel's symphony, 
But still Mary had to rock her Savior to sleep 

Hallelujah, hallelujah 
Heaven's love reaching down to save the world 
Hallelujah, hallelujah 
Son of God, Servant King 
Here with us 
You're here with us 

What a wonderful reminder of how God loves us, the thought of His love is so overwhelming! I pray that I never take for granted the godly heritage that God has given me on both sides of my family. Ever since I've had the privilege of being a part of the Jewish Outreach ministries God has really shown me how gracious and compassionate He's been in allowing me to be born into a Christian family. To come in to contact with people who don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is heartbreaking. Where would myself and my family be today were it not for God's grace! 

This Christmas was definitely a Christmas to remember, thank you Lord for your many blessings of friends and family and for sending your son to die for our sins! Merry Christmas everybody!

The annual sugar cookie decorating party :)

So much fun!

(My favorite cookie :)

This is the second year in a row that Scott and missy have come over with Michael and spent the evening watching Christmas movies and decorating sugar cookies! Mom made the sugar cookies home-made, from scratch and they were delicious! Even the frosting was home-made. I'm not sure which was more fun, decorating the cookies or eating them! I think my favorite cookie was the one I decorated that said "I Love You" on it, but all of them came out very nicely! I think Mom and missy had a little to much fun, and towards the end I got a little tired of taking my time to decorate so I just mixed a bunch of random colors of frosting on top of one cookie just messing around and I did not expect anyone to eat it but then Scott did! Thank you Lord for the time that we were able to spend tonight with family and friends, today was great!

Last minute Christmas shopping with the family!

At Ihop with Mom and Dad

Today was so much fun! The whole Schriver gang went out Christmas shopping today, including our adopted little brothers Quentin and Matt. We started off the morning with a delicious breakfast at Ihop and then we spent the entire rest of the day Christmas shopping in all of the very busy stores! I am so excited for Christmas day! I can't wait to see everybody open up there presents!

I read these verses in my devotions today. God is teaching me that He is good all the time, no matter what the circumstances and I need to worship Him because of who He is, not because of the way I feel! Life is so much better when I focus on all the things that God has done for me instead of dwelling on all the things that I can't change. God brings so many blessing back to my mind when I think about God's goodness to me. The Lord's been so good to me and my family!

"Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the LORD inthe beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth." Psalm 96:8-9

Merry almost Christmas!!! :)

Our Christmas tree after we wrapped the presents, and we haven't even finished wrapping them all yet! :)

Spoiled! :)



A Reflection On God's Goodness

My "little" brother and I after church Sunday night.

I've been wanting to start blogging for a while and I just read such an inspiring quote from Pastor Chappell's new book "In Desert Places", I knew I needed to record it somewhere so where better to write it then in my new blog :) Today was great. I left the house at 7 A.M. with Mom to drop her off at work while I spent the day in town. On my list of things to do was write some Christmas cards and drink a wonderful cup of McDonald's hot coffee (with no sugar ;) when the car battery decided to die and not to start again. Let's just say after a long afternoon with Byron and Brandon and $100 later, we have a new car battery. :) Mom and I got home around 6:30 at night and I made some phone call between 7-9 for Mr. Cantor. Praise the Lord for this job opportunity! I'm looking forward to growing closer to the Lord this Christmas break and watching how He works in and through People's Baptist Church and in my family. God's been so good and what better time to reflect on God's blessings in my life than tonight while watching the Lancaster Baptist Service of Giving. Praise the Lord that He watches out for His children.


 "God's provisions, so radiantly seen in other seasons of by the dark our lives, are not limited by the dark." -Pastor Paul Chappell. 


Just a wonderful reminder to not doubt in the night what God's shown me in the light. Praise the Lord for a hard working Dad, a loving Mom and three wonderful siblings that I love with all my heart! Merry Christmas, thank you Lord for all of your many blessings!